James Blackshaw Preps Young God Debut The Glass Bead Game

Some pairings just make sense. James Blackshaw is a London-based guitar prodigy who's released seven albums' worth of sprawling, unpredictable instrumental 12-string compositions since 2004. Young God Records is the New York-based indie founded by Swans/Angels of Light frontman Michael Gira, the label responsible for discovering Devendra Banhart and releasing music from the likes of Akron/Family and Larkin Grimm. If there's such a thing as a Sub Pop for apocalyptic acoustic music, Young God is it. This pair wasÂ pretty much made for each other, and on May 26, Blackshaw will release The Glass Bead Game, his first album for Young God.

Blackshaw recorded the album with a few accompanists, including Current 93 multi-instrumentalist Joolie Wood. The album includes just five tracks, but most of the songs are long; the final track, "Arc", runs nearly 19 minutes.

In a statement, Gira had this to say about the signing: "Recently, driving around with the car stereo blasting [Blackshaw's] music, I found myself inexplicably weeping. Why??? The music's not sad, or even mournful really. It's just exquisite in an ineffable way, and taps into a place, a dream place, or a pre-thought place, which each of us might recognize was always there inside of us and is suddenly revealed. Like coming home after a painful journey, I suppose... "

Below, we've got the tracklist for The Glass Bead Game and the full text of Gira's statement.

The Glass Bead Game:

01 Cross
02 Bled
03 Fix
04 Key
05 Arc

Gira's statement:

I'm incredibly pleased to announce that James Blackshaw will now be working with Young God Records for future releases of his absolutely beautiful and spellbinding music. The first such release is The Glass Bead Game*. I am-- and have been for a long time-- a huge fan. James has received a lot of attention lately as a prodigy/virtuoso of the 12 string guitar, but he's anything but showy. He lays out patterns and shapes that subtly shift over time and lead you to a deeply satisfying mental state. Recently, driving around with the car stereo blasting his music I found myself inexplicably weeping. Why??? The music's not sad, or even mournful really. It's just exquisite in an ineffable way, and taps into a place, a dream place, or a pre-thought place, which each of us might recognize was always there inside of us and is suddenly revealed. Like coming home after a painful journey, I suppose...

James used to be in punk bands in England, but then he started listening to people like John Fahey, Robbie Basho etc, and I assume soon locked himself in a room for 12 hours a day for several years and just played his guitar constantly. It takes intense discipline and a religious commitment to get to the place where he's at with his instrument - his soulful and kaleidoscopic ever-shifting mantra cycles are, in my view, incredibly beautiful. Just his guitar by itself, with its swirling overtones, cascading notes, and a thousand points of light, is like an orchestra, but now he's started to further orchestrate his pieces with piano, strings, wind, vocals, and the music is positively cinematic and mesmerizing. The 18-minute-plus gem on this record is "Arc", performed on piano with the sustain peddle on full throttle, and the rush of sound created by the overtones-from-heaven, augmented by strings and wind, when played at proper (full) volume, is one of the most thrilling pieces of music I've heard in years. It takes a rare and single-minded courage and commitment to make music with such a powerfully* positive force at its heart, especially in these troubled times. This is healing music that reaches for what's possible, just beyond our grasp. It is STELLAR. James is joined on this record by Joolie Wood (Current 93 and Simon Finn) - violin, clarinet and flute, John Contreras (Baby Dee and C93) - cello. Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand) is a classically trained singer and contributed vocals.